Marie get her



MARIE GETHER, or

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

Letters Patent No. 97,074, la-ted November 23, 1869.

-ctw#- HAND-GUIDE FOR PIANOS.

The Schedule referred to :in these Letters Patent vand. making parl. of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MARIE GETHER, of the cit-y -and county of St. Louis, and State of Missouri, have invented an improved apparatus, which isintended to facilitate the stuflyJof playing the piano, and wnich I call the Piano-Players Hand-Guide;? and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof', reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon It is a well-known and useful contrivance, to fasten a bar in front of thc key-board of a piano-forte, and parallel t0 the same, by which the wrist of the player is supported during the fatiguing exercises; but all the devices now known are suffering from the disadvantage, that the bar has to be detached from the piano when the guide is notused.

`The leading idea of' my improvement is to construct a piax'io'hand-guide, which, having all the' advantages of others', can be stored away out of sight, when not used, without detaching it from the piano.

Tothis eiect, I attach to the bottom of the pia-nocase, near the extremities of the key-board, two slides', C, lFigure 4, in which the sliding rods A, Figure 3, freely move back and forth, and are prevented from slipping out by a little stud, a, at the end of the sliding rod.

The arm or standard B is linked to the front end of the sliding rod by a turning-joint, C.

The notch f, in the upper end of the standard B,

forming a fork, receives the end of the guide or wristholder D, as illustrated in h, Figure 6.

The guide-bar D may be adjusted higher or lower in the said notch, and s fastened by the screw and nut g.

When upright, the arm B iskept in position by the `little shoulder d, resting on the surface of A, and by the little click or detent q, resting against the shoulder n at the end of A, as exhibited in Figure 5.

When the guide is folded under the piano, and pushed back, the little protruding parts of B or tongues O slip into the socket C', iu the lower part of the slides C, thereby securing the folded horizontal position of the arms B and bar D.

My hand-guide may be constructed of wood or metal, o r a combination of both; and I shall not confine myself ,to any particular manner of fastening the har D to the arms B, or the latter to the sliding bars. Now be it known that I do not claim a bar' in front of the l e vboard,as a support or guide forthe pianoplayeis hand; but

What I claim as my` invention, and desire to secure 'by LetteisPatent, is-

A hand-guide, fastened to the bottom of the pianocase, in such a manner, that it may he folded down and stored away, without detaching it from the piano, when 'not used, materially as above described.

Witnesses: MARIE GETHER.

BERNE RosENsTIEL, W. HARTMAN. 

